


Soul

by saffrons



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Healing, M/M, Paranormal, Soulmates, Trauma, a week in hell, demon!Wooyoung, pessimistic!san, pretty much the boys accidentally summon a demon, wooyoung can't leave until he collects the soul of the person who summoned him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saffrons/pseuds/saffrons
Summary: In which a pessimistic non-believer of the supernatural San accidentally summons a demon named Wooyoung. Desperate to get rid of the dark presence, he goes through Hell and back (literally), only to find out it is not as simple as he once thought.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

San absolutely hated Halloween. 

His best friend Hongjoong on the other hand, lived and breathed for the thirty-first day of October. They were indeed polar opposites, but that never swayed their friendships. 

Halloween was only two days away, which meant that the only thing his best friend was able to talk about for the past week was Halloween and their respective plans for the night. San constantly ignored and protested against paying an absurd amount of money for a haunted house created by adults who wanted to capitalize on scaring children. San didn’t want to be rude though, so he dealt with it, knowing that it was okay if childish activities made Hongjoong happy. After all, everyone was obsessed with something. 

So when San walked through the door of their shared apartment to see that Hongjoong had taken the authority to embellish their living space with, in his opinion, corny decorations, he let out an annoyed sigh, dropping his black bag onto the floor at his feet and having absolutely no energy to put it on the wooden table that was less than ten feet away. He had not had a good day at work, being yelled at by countless older customers seemed to become the norm of his job. 

Even on a good day of work, San figured that working in retail apparently made him less than human for the customers who felt the need to contribute to the problem of consumerism, no matter how polite the boy was. San thought that if Hongjoong wanted truly scary decorations, he should just put up pictures of customers that shopped at their local mall. That would have given him nightmares and would have made him lose sleep at night. 

“San! Hi!” Hongjoong yelled from further in the apartment, in the kitchen. San followed the voice, almost tripping over a plastic pumpkin his best friend had placed near the door. Muttering profanities, he walked into the kitchen, where the boy seemed to be busy baking. The familiar scent of Hongjoong’s famous cupcakes filled his senses and despite his bad mood, a smile widened on his face. Nothing made him feel better after a long day of work than his best friend’s baking. 

“Hi ‘Joong.” San stated, walking over and sitting down at the glass table which seemed to be overtaken by stacks of dirty bowls and pans filled with batter that were yet to be put into the oven. Hongjoong turned around, and San couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the sight of what he was wearing.

Hongjoong was wearing a bright orange apron that had pumpkins and witches holding glasses of wine, one of them saying, ‘Drink up Witches!’. It was so like him to embrace such a terrible pun. Hongjoong’s specialty was corny jokes and San loved that about him. Hongjoong rolled his eyes and handed San a vanilla cupcake that was coloured orange that has yet to be iced, which San took gratefully, his stomach rumbling at the sight of food.

“Can you tell me if you think it’s missing something? I followed the recipe perfectly but I still think the recipe tastes weird.” Hongjoong groaned, leaning against their fridge. “I’ve been trying to get these perfect so I can bring some to Seonghwa’s on Halloween. They’re supposed to be candy corn flavour, but I don’t really get that flavour coming through.”

San rolled his eyes. Of course he was trying to make some for Seonghwa, the boy was practically in love with him. For the longest time Hongjoong had been trying to show in minuscule ways his affection for the older, despite San trying to explain how inexplicably obvious he was being. In his defence, Seonghwa was completely clueless about what Hongjoong was feeling, which made the entire thing both cute and tiring. The day they ended up together was the day San was honestly going to consider buying a lottery ticket, but the likelihood was very slim. 

San took a bite of the cupcake, and felt his eyes shut at the warmth of the food hitting his palette. The cupcakes were incredible, although he wasn’t surprised; Hongjoong was an incredible baker and San was always lucky to be the one who got to taste his conventions. “Hongjoong, if you weren’t like my brother I would so kiss you right now. These are so good.”

Hongjoong looked at San, pretending to be offended by the joke, placing one hand on his heart to mimic that of a heart attack. “Did you just bro-zone me?”

San shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth, rolling his eyes. San had known Hongjoong for as long as he was able to remember, both being inseparable since the young age of five. Although both liked boys, they would never ever picture being together in any other way other than best friends. They had tried once during high school, but they found it way too weird and vowed to be best friends, and only best friends. 

“Actually, I will consider un-brozoning you if you make more cupcakes.” San grinned, reaching for a second cupcake from the pan. “These are heavenly.” Hongjoong slapped Sans’ hand away, scoffing at the lame attempt to get a second helping. 

“These are for Seonghwa! Don’t touch them!” 

“You know what they say, don’t you? They say the way to a man’s heart is his stomach, and if you give him these cupcakes I’m sure he will literally bow down to you.” San teased, ruffling Hongjoong’s newly-dyed black hair. “Although, if my calculations are correct, due to your constant reminders that Halloween is in two days, you have so much more time to make more cupcakes!” San sneakily grabbed one from the pan, this time, Hongjoong being unable to stop him. 

“Asshole!” Hongjoong groaned, taking off his apron, but a smile appearing on his face nonetheless. San knew the older wasn’t actually mad, and he loved the banter the two shared. Before San was able to leave the kitchen to make his way to his room, Hongjoong called out to him. “Oh, by the way, I invited Seonghwa, Yeosang and Yunho over tonight. Yeosang bought this old ouija board from a thrift shop this morning. We’re going to test it out!”

“You actually believe that shit?” San groaned at the mention of a ouija board. Looking around him at their decorated apartment, San took that back. Of course he did. “Actually, I’m not even surprised you do.”

Alongside with hating Halloween, San did not believe in the slightest of the paranormal. Any claim anyone had of paranormal events happening was explained by a perfectly normal scientific phenomenon, in which San believed much more. He preferred to have beliefs based on science and factual evidence, something that was able to be proven. San thought that anyone who believed in the paranormal was just desperate to believe in something, and that was proven by the baseless obsession with the ideology that ghosts were real. He always made fun of Hongjoong when he would spend his nights watching ghost hunters’ shows, or youtubers who claim to have bought a haunted doll. Hongjoong was incredibly gullible and San was slightly worried for the boy. 

Hongjoong would spend his nights curled up watching videos on the computer, claiming he was watching real exorcisms on the screen. More often than not, San was dragged into his foolishness, causing San to slowly resent the paranormal even more than before. It was so evidently clear that whoever made those videos were capitalizing on the idea that ghosts perpetuate fear, and his roommate was the perfect target.

“Don’t be rude!” Hongjoong rolled his eyes, beginning to prepare the black icing to contrast the orange colour of the cupcakes themselves. “You don’t have to join.” 

“I’m not being rude, I’m being reasonable. There’s a difference. Do you really think a piece of wood from a thrift shop will really open up a portal to speak to things that don’t exist? Besides, if I don’t join, I wouldn’t hear the end of it and you know that’s true.”

“Actually, yeah. I think they do exist, and that ouija boards are real.” Hongjoong stated affirmably. He turned his back to San, beginning to mix the icing that had a black colouring, slightly faster to express the tiny bit of frustration he felt in the pit of his stomach. “Yeosang tried it this morning and said as soon as he tried it, the whole room went cold. It was crazy! Like all the blood rushed out of his body! He called me and said he never felt that cold that quickly before.”

“His window must have been open, then.” San stated, bringing the dirty dishes on the table to the sink. San never understood how people clung on to the slightest bit of ‘evidence’ and ran with it. “Don’t get too excited, if the blood rushed out of his body, he wouldn’t be alive.” There was clearly a proper explanation that could have caused the incident, and it was annoying how everyone remained ignorant to it. “Or, the scariest explanation of them all: maybe his heater stopped working.”

“Stop trying to justify everything with your stupid science!” Hongjoong whined. “They say you feel cold when the presence of spirits are near you! Can’t you just believe in something for once?” Hongjoong had tried multiple times to get his best friend to show some type of compliance when it comes to the supernatural, knowing very well he wasn’t going to crack. Hongjoong shoved the black icing he made into a piping bag (which was much harder than it looked), and San found himself smiling at the fact that Hongjoong was having trouble getting all the icing inside. 

“I can’t believe in something that isn’t real.” San sighed, beginning to help Hongjoong wash his dirty plates, feeling bad seeing the sink practically overturned. “Not only that, but I can’t put faith into something I haven’t experienced at all.” Hongjoong’s expression brightened, turning around and closing the sink water abruptly, causing San to shoot a confused look. “Uh, I was cleaning that.”

His friend ignored the comment. “So what you’re saying is, if you did experience something, you would believe in it?” His smile grew bigger, and San couldn’t help but admire his tenacity. Of course, Hongjoong tried to twist San’s words in order to fit the paranormal narrative but San admitted that he did have a point. 

“I mean, in theory, yes—”

“Perfect!” Hongjoong interrupted, patting down his halloween-themed apron, wiping the excess flour off his hand . “So you’ll play Ouija with us tonight then?” 

San shot his best friend a warning glare, unaware of where he was going with this idea. The last thing San wanted to do was to involve himself in games meant for kids who go away to summer camp, or the game elementary kids played when they were left home alone for the first time. He was tired from work and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep in his bed. He was lucky enough to start work later the next day, a luxury not always given to him, so he took those days very seriously. 

“Whoa, slow down there ‘Joong.” San chuckled, reopening the tap water and placing the mixing bowl on the drying rack next to the sink. “I’m way too tired to stay up with you guys to play with that piece of wood.”

“It’s not just a piece of wood! It’s called a Ouija board, San.” Hongjoong explained, placing each cupcake he had spent so much time icing carefully one-by-one into a clear glass container labeled ‘Seonghwa’. If there was one thing, San always admired the tenacity Hongjoong had for his crush on the older. “Besides, we’re only going to do it at three in the morning.”

San scoffed, running a hand through his dark hair. “Only three in the morning? You’re actually crazy if you think I will stay up until three in the morning to play a stupid game.” San turned around to begin walking to his room, wanting to change out of the clothes he’d been wearing all day. He heard the small footsteps of his best friend behind him. 

“You know what? I’m going to ignore you practically calling me crazy because I love you.” Hongjoong sighed, following his best friend. “If you think that these things aren’t real, which they are, why don’t you prove it?”

San stopped in his steps, confused what Hongjoong was implying. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean, if you’re so sure ghosts and spirits don’t exist, then play with us. If something happens, you’ll be a witness. Then you will have to believe in something other than your stupid science.”

San sighed, ignoring the remark about his belief in science. “And if something doesn’t happen?” 

“Then you’ll have more to put in your pessimism box.”

—

San wasn’t sure how his best friend managed to actually get him to wake up at three in the morning. He was also slightly annoyed that Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yeosang and Yunho decided to do so by jumping on his bed while asleep, practically giving him a heart attack in the process. Yet, there he was (half asleep) sitting in a circle with his three friends on their wooden living room floor in his pyjamas. 

“I can't believe you’re actually joining us,” Yeosang said, playfully nudging San, who sat next to him. Normally, San would have shoved him back but his tiredness had overwhelmed all his senses. 

“Me neither.” San grumbled, a little bit cranky due to him being half asleep. There was nothing he hated more than being awoken from his sleep but at the same time, there was nothing he wouldn’t have done for his best friend. Sometimes, he thought Hongjoong took a slight advantage of such. 

“You should thank me, Yeosang.” Hongjoong smiled triumphantly, nudging Yunho, who sat next to him. “I’m the one who convinced him to join.”

“I don’t think convince is the right word you should use…” San mocked. Hongjoong glared at the boy playfully, but a smile replacing the glare fairly quickly.

“By the time we actually start, it’ll be past three a.m.” Yunho sarcastically groaned, checking his cell phone and leaning back from his sitting position on two hands. Yeosang shot him a glare, although San seemed to notice a slight smile creep up on his face. 

“Okay! Let’s go over the rules, shall we?” Yeosang started, getting a little bit closer to the board. In response, all the boys except San moved closer, darling the doubtful boy a set of glares. Reluctantly, he moved closer. “First rule. Always make sure you say hello.” 

San scoffed, and Seonghwa nudged the boy to get him to be quiet. “Shut up.” He yelled, whispering. San just rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything more. 

“Never ask it how you’re going to die. Never use a ouija board alone. Always say goodbye.” Yeosang finished, edging closer to the board. “Everyone has to put two fingers on the planchette. That's very important, so please don’t forget to do it.”

“Why do we have to say hello? Does this ghost value politeness?” San joked, not earning a response from his best friends, but instead a chorus of groans. “Tough crowd.” Even though San knew this was all bullshit, he reluctantly put two of his fingers on the planchette, knowing all his friends were staring at him expectantly. 

“Remember, please do not take your fingers off the planchette. Taking your fingers off of it allows an entryway into this building.” Yeosang continued, looking extremely serious. San tried his best not to laugh at the intensity of the situation. 

“So we’re the vessels, then?” Seonghwa asked.

“We’re their communicators.” Yeosang corrected.

“Then let’s all say hello on the count of three, alright?” Hongjoong started, looking over at his three friends. San was able to smell the fear radiating off the smaller boy, which was probably why Hongjoong seemed to be getting closer to Seonghwa by the second. “No matter what happens. Don’t break the rules. Okay, ready? Three…. Two…. One ...”

“Hello.” They all said in unison, fingers on the planchette, getting ready to begin what they thought was just a game.


	2. Chapter Two

San thought that if he was about to communicate with a spirit, he was going to ask them the most important questions. On the slim chance that this was something real, and not a figment of the imagination of his best friends, he wanted to make sure to get a word (or two) in. For some reason, he wanted to ask the question before any of the others asked something stupid, like if they were going to marry the person they loved. 

“Will I get promoted to store manager this year?” San asked, and earned a slap on the shoulder by Hongjoong with his free hand, followed by a scoff. “What?” 

“Are you serious? That’s the first thing you want to ask-” but before Hongjoong was able to scold San at his poor choice of a question, all of their hands moved forward, following as the planchette moved towards the three letter word in the top left corner, ‘YES’. San felt his stomach churn, but ignored it, knowing one of his friends must have pushed it. That was the only rational explanation for the movement of the planchette. Besides, they were probably going to try pretty much anything to get him to believe that it was real, and that the paranormal did in fact exist. They were really delusional if they thought San was going to fall for anyone of their petty tricks. 

The energy of the room seemed to shift after the planchette moved to its answer. The excited energy from the other four boys seemed to drain very quickly, it was almost as if they seemed to be overtaken by dread and fear. San pushed it to the side, thinking it was most probably due to the fact that he was half asleep at three in the morning, and perhaps just maybe a little loopy with the lack of sleep. 

“Ha ha ha. Very funny, Yeosang.” San rolled his eyes, glaring accusingly at the older. “You can stop pushing the stupid planchette.” Yeosang widened his eyes, making sure to not take his two fingers off the wooden planchette, almost looking offended at the accusation made by San. “Imagine how tired I am and you guys try to pull a stupd prank on me. I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t push it! I thought you did!” Yeosang laughed nervously, clearly getting bothered with the growing situation. “Yunho, was it you?” All four friends looked at the boy, who looked slightly startled. “I swear I didn’t move it, so it must have been him.” Yunho widened his eyes. Maybe it was the lighting, but San could’ve sworn that it looked like he was on the verge of tears. 

“W-Why are you looking at me? I didn’t do it. I thought Seonghwa did.” Yunho stuttered, using his free hand that wasn’t on the planchette to point at him. San almost wasn’t able to suppress his laugh, why was everyone so scared of a stupid little wooden board? 

“Seonghwa wouldn’t do that.” Hongjoong affirmed, causing San to roll his eyes. “He wouldn’t pull a prank like that.” If his best friend hadn’t made it obvious before that he liked Seonghwa, he sure as hell did then. Yeosang cleared his throat, and Hongjoong shot him a glare. 

“Uh, why me? I thought San did it?” Seonghwa said defensively, ignoring Hongjoongs’ comment. “I wouldn’t put it past him to try and fuck it up for a joke!”

“Do you think I have the energy to feed into your stupid wooden board and pull a lame prank?” San snapped back, slightly insulted at the accusation of stooping to their level. There are many things he would have done, but he honestly didn’t care all that much. “Why would I have any interest in doing this? I would much rather be in bed sleeping then sitting here playing a children’s game. Need I remind you that it’s three in the morning and you guys woke me up?”

“W-What’s your name?” Hongjoong asked suddenly, capturing the attention of his friends, who all instantly became quiet. It was his attempt to start the looming fight, and San knew how much he hated conflict. “If there really is something here and it was you moving the planchette, please, uh, sir? Or, uh, ma’am? Or whatever you’d prefer to be called that’s totally cool with us, really, can you tell us your name?” 

Before San was able to make a comment about how funny it was that Hongjoong began to stutter, the planchette began to move along the board. All boys instantly shut their mouths and widened their eyes at the piece of wood that seemed to be moving on its own over the black letters.

“W-O-O-Y-O-U-N-G?” Yeosang whispered quietly, whispering the letters as they were slowly shown on the board. It was so quiet in the room, that San was sure that if a pin dropped, it would have been heard. 

“My fingers feel like they're burning.” Yunho muttered, his face scrunching in slight pain. Although San would’ve never admitted it, he felt a slight tingle in the spot where his fingers were. He attributed that to the fact that his fingers were most likely going numb due to the length of time he’d pressed them on the wooden surface. “What the hell?”

“Don’t take your fingers off Yunho, or I swear to god—” Yeosang warned, but Hongjoong cut him off

“Wooyoung? We’re talking to a ghost named Wooyoung?” Hongjoong asked, all colour draining from his face. It was evident that all the boys were scared out of their minds, but San tried to rationalize his fear with science. Out of the corner of San’s eye, he was able to see that Hongjoong had officially used his free hand to cling himself onto Seonghwa, who didn’t seem to mind as he was also clinging onto the younger. San tried his best to suppress making an embarrassing comment towards the two, knowing they were probably scared out of their minds.

The odds of there actually being a spirit communicating with them were significantly low, the probability of one of his friends messing with him seemed much more likely. San was never going to admit it, but this whole situation kind of stressed him out. Not because he was afraid of the possibility of a supernatural being, but rather if there was, Hongjoong would have never let him live it down. He tried hard to keep his cold exterior, not letting any of his friends seeing him have the possibility of faltering. San pushed those thoughts out of his head before they had the opportunity to re-enter. 

Suddenly, the only light in the room that was on began to flicker, leaving them in a mix of both darkness and light. Hongjoong slightly gasped, still clinging onto Seonghwa (who was scared himself, but tried his best to hide his emotions), Yunho was clearly uncomfortable and Yeosang looked like he was about to pass out. San laughed at the sight of his friends being terrified by something so tiny as a flicker of the lights. They were so easily terrified. 

“Don’t be stupid! Do you really believe that the light flickered because of a dumb ghost? It’s windy outside. Of course the wind will affect the electricity. This is a game.” San laughed nonchalantly. 

“It’s three a.m, and all of us swore we didn’t move the planchette, there must be a spirit here.” Yeosang whispered, voice barely audible. “It makes sense… Three in the morning is literally the time where spirits roam and stuff… I saw it on a documentary once.”

“You’re delusional.” San grumbled to nobody in particular. “Like I just said, it’s a stupid game. Whoever is causing shit will tell us in the morning and it will all make sense. There are no such things as fucking spirits.” 

Before they were able to respond at the pessimism laced in Sans voice, the heart shaped planchette began to move again, on the wooden board. 

“I-A-M-H-E-R-E” The letters spelt the sentence out, and the atmosphere of the room just became more and more draining, although San would’ve never admitted it. 

“That doesn’t sound like a game!” Yunho exclaimed, voice trembling. 

“Seriously, which one of you are doing this?” Hongjoong spoke up. San looked at his best friend, confused. He was the one who wanted to see a spirit, wanted to experience it, why was he afraid?

“I swear, none of us are doing this to fuck with you San.” Seonghwa said, voice trembling, ignoring Hongjoongs’ question. “I swear.” 

Honestly, San was sick of this stupid game. It was almost three thirty in the morning, and he had work the next day. He didn’t know how much longer this was gonna last; how much longer he would have to sit in the circle with his friends and pretend to actually care for what was going on. There was nothing more he wanted than to go in his bed and sleep. So, San did something that he knew his friends would freak out over.

He got up, removing his fingers from the planchette, and stretched. Sitting on the floor for a long period of time made his back and legs ache. 

“San? Are you insane?!” Hongjoong exclaimed, not daring to take his fingers off the planchette. His eyes were wide with both anger and fear, and San knew he was never going to hear the end of it. He honestly didn’t care, though.

“Insane? No. Tired? Hell yeah.” San smiled. “I’m going to sleep. Have fun playing the stupid Oujia board.” San was about to turn to leave the room, when Yeosang started to raise his voice. 

“You can’t take your fingers off without saying goodbye! That’s like, one of the most important rules. Do you want to be haunted then get killed by a spirit?” Yeosang gaped, surprised at the action of his friend. San had to admit, he was surprised Yeosang had that much tenacity in him. Normally the quiet one, he rarely ever raised his voice. 

“I know one of you guys are fucking with it. Thus, it made this whole experience both cheesy and annoying. I rest my case, this is why I don’t believe in things like this.” San explained, running his hand through his hair.

“I’ve watched way too many horror movies, San. If you don’t come and say goodbye, god knows what’ll happen.” Yunho stammered, looking at his friend with desperate eyes. “There’s even movies dedicated to all the fucked up shit ouija boards can do to you if you don’t take them seriously! How is this not scaring you?” 

San scoffed, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands. “I’ll tell you what, Yunho. Tell the spirit to bring it on, then. Because spirits are not real, please for the love of god, grow up.” San started walking to his room, his back towards the group. At the doorframe of his room, he turned around, raising both his middle fingers. “Tell the spirit that I said good fucking night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> San clearly hates the supernatural, and I think both his stubbornness and his tenacity for hating the paranormal will cause a great deal of struggles in the near future. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm not sure which days will be my designated update days, but due to being stuck inside due to quarantine, I'll probably update 4-5 days a week, depending. I hope you're all remaining safe and are doing well! Any kudos and comments will always be appreciated :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much fo reading the first chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to leave any comments and I would appreciate anything! Have a good day, and I hope everyone is keeping safe throughout the Quarantine.


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